Will Jay Leno be Replaced over Writers' Strike?

Jay Leno, host of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Ellen DeGeneres, host of Ellen, a daytime talk show, are both in hot water over the Writers’ Guild of America strike.

Leno has chosen to honor the strikers’ picket lines and has not returned to work at his show since the strike began on Monday, November 5th. NBC has been running reruns since then, as has the Late Show with David Letterman.

According to Debbie Vickers, the Leno show’s executive producer, NBC wants Leno to return “as soon as possible.”

“We want to protect the staff, who have been loyal to this show for decades, in the same way that Johnny Carson reluctantly returned without his writers in 1988,” said Vickers. The 1988 strike lasted 22 weeks.

But the staff is not the only thing NBC wants to protect. Prior to the strike, the Tonight Show beat Letterman in the ratings on a regular basis, earning NBC about $50 million per year in the process.

Since the strike began, however, the Letterman show has siphoned off about 750,000 homes and has beat Tonight in the ratings twice this week.

Because NBC is concerned about losing even more viewers, it has been reportedly pressuring Leno to cross the picket lines.

Vickers has admitted that NBC is even considering returning to production without Leno, using a guest host instead.

Ellen DeGeneres, on the other hand, has been crossing the picket lines to film her syndicated talk show since one day after the strike began. DeGeneres picketed with the strikers the first day, but went back to work after that.

The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), has criticized DeGeneres for going back to work instead of supporting the strikers.

The WGAE, in a press release, claimed that DeGeneres was not supporting her writers and was violating strike rules.

WGAE said, “Ellen has…been performing comedy on her show. Even if Ellen is writing those segments herself, since those segments would normally be written by the writers on strike, she's performing 'struck work'. Ellen is violating the strike rules that were clearly explained to all of the comedy/variety shows.”

Ellen’s producer, Telepictures Productions, countered, "as a syndicated show, the individual stations control when the show airs. If Telepictures does not deliver original episodes of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the stations can move the show out of its time periods, or ultimately hold the company in breach of contract.

"Telepictures provides first run programming to stations they don't control. The network controls their own schedule and programming with the late night shows as Leno, Conan, Kimmel etc."

If the strike continues, you can rest assured that the rhetoric will only heat up.

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Writers' Strike - Tina Fey, Will Forte Picket - Jay Leno, David Letterman Layoff Staff

Tina Fey, star of 30 Rock, was among the celebrities seen Tuesday and Wednesday manning the picket lines along with other members of the Writers Guild of America, which is striking against the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers.

The writers are striking for a share of the residuals generated by the Internet, DVDs and other media platforms.

After her stint at picketing, Fey reported for work Tuesday to resume filming her acting scenes for 30 Rock.

Also picketing in front of NBC's New York headquarters at Rockefeller Center was Will Forte, a writer and a six season member of the cast of Saturday Night Live. Said Forte, "It's pretty well-known that writers are often treated like second-class citizens. There's not a whole lot of glory in it."

The video is below an excerpt from "30 Rock."



"Without writers, there would be no shows, no movies," continued Forte, who frequently plays George Bush in SNL skits. "These things are your babies. You work really hard on them, and you have a sense of ownership with them. So there's nothing wrong with wanting a fair deal."

The late night talk shows, such as the Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, are already airing reruns because of the writers’ strike. The Washington Post has reported that the Leno show gave 70-100 of the staff their two week notice that they will be without employment as of November 19th if the strike continues.

Since no talks between the Guild and the producers are scheduled, more layoffs seem inevitable.

Now that the strike is a reality, the TV networks are implementing their contingency programming, including more reality shows. CBS is ready to bring out the winter version of Big Brother, a summer reality show winner.

Plan on many more unscripted shows like reality and game shows along with the anticipated airing of reruns if the strike continues for any length of time.